Art of negotiating with tombstone sellers

Business is all about making use of the opportunity to make money to the maximum. This opportunity may exist when there are not many competitors around or when you have certain speciality which others do not have. There is a third scenario as well. You can make good money if the others are not in a position to negotiate well and you are in a business which regularly services these types of people. One such business is that of selling the headstones or monuments which are placed on the grave of the dead person. If some near and dear one has been laid to rest in a cemetery, then you are required to place the tombstone as a custom. However, when you go to buy one, you might find that the prices are shooting over the roof. Bringing the prices down might not be easy but it nevertheless worth doing your bit to make the seller reduce the prices. Here is how this can be achieved:

1. If possible do not go on your own if you are in a sad and depressive mindset. These conditions might not permit you to negotiate at all. Advantage can be taken of this situation by the sellers and might sell at MRPs. Try sending some other person whom you know can strike a better deal.

2. If there is a separate charge for different engraving methods which can get the message on the grave monuments, then you can select the one which falls within your budget.

3. It is always better to ask the details about the stuff and keep asking the prices along with. Some people use the strategy of asking the prices afterwards. This gives the time to the seller to judge your mood and he can then jack up the prices on ascertaining where your preferences lie. By asking the prices in between the conversation while enquiring about the headstones, there is a bit of unsettling effect on the seller and he will be bound to tell the prices which he has already thought of. He can not jack these up for fear of being caught in inconsistent and illogical prices.

4. Bargaining is a matter of skills and it is always better to control the flow of communication in the direction you want. Do not let the grave monuments sellers to get the impression that you are in a sad state.

5. Examine the different heads of charges carefully and tell him something which looks is unreasonable. Do not ask him why this is so. If you do so, you are asking him to defend the high price for the tombstone. Rather, tell him quite strongly that the charge is unbelievable.

If the seller already has a room for reducing the prices but would do so after considerable prodding, then your negotiations shall proceed to do the same. If the person is adamant, even after he is confronted with unreasonableness of charges, then it is better to leave.